Holiday Music Can Impact Shoppers’ Buying Decisions: Study

The kind of music retailers play in stores can have a direct impact on whether customers open up their wallets or not, according to a new survey.

Especially around the holidays, holiday-themed music can put shoppers in the mood to pick up Christmas gifts for loved ones. The findings were released by the Society of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) in its latest Holiday Music Survey.

The poll, conducted by SOCAN with Leger Intelligence Group, strongly suggests music can have a dramatic impact on consumer’s holiday shopping experience.

“Thoughtful music is the shopping gift that keeps on giving — especially during the holiday season, but it can also be the reason that someone leaves a retail location,” said Jennifer Brown, SOCAN’s vice-president of licensing. “These results show us the important role music plays in creating the right customer experience, right down to the playlist being chosen.”

Thirty-six percent of Canadians have left a store because of the music being played, and 29 percent have stayed in a store due to it, the survey found.

Highlights from the SOCAN Holiday Music Survey include:

Retail businesses aren’t the only ones that could benefit from Holiday music: 64% of Canadians say that they’d like to hear holiday music in places where they need to wait (like the post office or doctor’s office), and 58% would welcome holiday music on public transportation.

Playing holiday music keeps Canadian shoppers happy. Only one-in-10 shoppers claim to dislike holiday music and 82% of Canadians enjoy listening to all kinds of holiday music while they shop.

Playlists and business targets unite! Businesses should fine-tune their holiday playlist to appeal to different targets. For example, Boomers prefer traditional holiday carols, whereas Gen Y and Millennial shoppers are more likely to want variety in their holiday music.

Holiday music is appreciated by employees, too, with 43% of Canadians saying that they would like to hear holiday music played in their workplace.

The survey of 1,543 Canadians was completed online. A probability sample of the same size would yield a margin of error of +/- 2.5%, 19 times out of 20.